Thursday, November 25, 2010

When I was 5, my family lived in Massachusetts. My dad was a graduate student at the time, my mother was raising 3 kids. Dad worked 2 jobs, AND was an amateur boxer, to support us.

That winter we ran out of money. I didn't have a coat for school, and my parents couldn't afford one. My mom would dress me in multiple layers of her shirts to send me to school.

Somehow, through our church, word got out that there was a little girl who needed a coat. A family out there bought me a brand new one in my size, and donated it through the church.

I still don't know who they are, or how they heard about me. But it was warm, and fit me perfectly, and was my favorite coat EVER. It was still in good shape when I gave it to another family in need. By that time we weren't living in Massachusetts anymore.

Whoever you are who bought me that coat so long ago, thank you. It made all the difference in the world to me. And still does.

You call it Thanksgiving. Here in the Germanic part of Europe they celebrate a festival called St Martin on 11th November. Traditionally they eat goose and the small children are given a Lebkuechen by a man on a horse wearing a cape. But only one cake between two: Martin saw a beggar at the side of the road and stopped to cut his coat in half and give one part to the beggar against the cold.

Happy Thanksgiving from a Brit: we always told our US friends that we celebrate getting rid of them ;-). The germanic areas have Martin, Advent and then Christmas, what do the Brits have? Commercialism, commercialism, commercialism... I'm glad I live in Germanic Italy with a load of US friends.

I still remember the summer a couple gave us thier hand me downs from their daughter. We were trying to figure out how we were going to afford clothes for our daughter that year. I felt so blessed that I donate clothes and toys year round now that we are more finacially indpendant.

When we moved across the country with basically nothing, my newly-divorced single-mom mother's new co-workers gave us odds and ends to furnish our empty apartment. I still have the dresser someone gave us -- it was yellow and had animal decals on the drawers and white filigree metal knobs, so it didn't appeal too much to my 9-year-old brother. It's been repainted a few times but is going strong, and I have passed it on to my own daughter. I am gratified still by the kindness of these people who helped us out. I try to help out in turn when I can... God bless those people who gave you that beautiful coat. :)

Mrs. Grumpy, Isn't it amazing how a little bit of kindness can stick with a person for their entire life? I had a couple similar experiences as a child. I have never forgotten them.

One such incident was that I had a childhood accident that left me needing some dental work my family could not afford. When I was 14 I saved the money for it myself from a summer job. When the dentist found out I was paying myself he gave me a HUGELY discounted price.

I later met this dentist as an adult at a family function and told him thank you again and how much it had meant to me. He could not remember that he had done this but was glad that he had. For me it was life altering.

Your story gives me encouragement to keep trying to help others because you just never know who and how you will touch someone's life.

Dear Mrs. Grumpy,I was also a needy child and the kindness of our neighbor helped my family so much it's difficult to express the magnitude of gratitude I have. Your post brought tears to my eyes and reminded me that kindness is never, ever misplaced. Thank you!

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